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Biomedical subjects

D Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to D Anderson.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources

The use of Epstein-Barr virus-based shuttle vectors in rat PC12 cells.

1. The rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cell line has been a commonly used model for studies of neuronal development, function, and death. Thus the ability to transfect PC12 cells in an efficient manner and to manipulate their gene expression would enhance the usefulness of these cells. 2. We demonstrate that EBV-based vectors provide a useful expression system for gene manipulation in rat PC12 cells. 3. The EBV-based vectors replicate episomally in PC12 cells for at least 2 months, as evidence by their recovery from the transfected cells and by the digestion of the episomal plasmid with the isoschizomer MboI and DpnI restriction enzymes. 3. PC12 cells are efficiently transfected by EBV-based vectors both transiently and stably. 4. Transfection of PC12 cells with an EBV-based vector containing tau cDNA in the antisense orientation resulted in a decrease in the level of tau protein in the transfected cells. 5. The results demonstrate that EBV-based vectors can be a useful expression system for gene manipulation in PC12 cells.

Animals↗

Parents of adults with mental retardation living in-home and out-of-home: caregiving burdens and gratifications.

Interviews with parents of adult children with mental retardation were conducted to identify differences in caregiver burdens and gratifications, based on in-home and out-of-home placement. Parental responses indicate that caretakers of adult children with mental retardation are worried and feel responsibility for their care regardless of residential placement of the adult child.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Interleukin 15.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Animals↗

American Society of Anesthesiology scoring discrepancies affecting the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System: surgical-site-infection risk index rates.

The American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) scoring was performed for the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) System surgical-site-infection (SSI) risk indexing in 250 prosthetic-joint surgeries. There were ASA scoring discrepancies in 59% of 116 ASA-3 surgeries and 2 out of 10 ASA-3 SSI. The original ASA scoring led to an uncorrected SSI rate of 5.8 per 100 surgeries in the NNIS risk group 0; with corrected ASA scores, the rate was 4.5 per 100 surgeries.

Anesthesia Department, Hospital↗

Violence against women: an education program for rural community health workers.

This study aimed to identify the educational needs of community-based rural health professionals regarding violence against women, and was funded under the Rural Health Support, Education and Training (RHSET) program. Focus groups and teleconferences were conducted with health workers, organisations and key individuals in the Wide Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. As a result, an education package has been designed that will provide specific training in violence against women for rural and remote health professionals working in the field. Rural health community workers identified the need to enhance their intervention skills and understanding on the issue of violence against women. A distance education framework based on adult and guided learning principles has been developed to meet this need. Six areas were identified as important learning needs and included: (i) violence against women as a public health concern; (ii) The role of the community health worker; (iii) How the community health worker can empower women experiencing violence in their lives; (iv) Enhancing and developing supportive networks; (v) Building on community development action; and (vi) 'Where to next' for community health workers.

Adult↗

Immune stimulation may contribute to enhanced progression of SIV induced disease in rhesus macaques.

A number of rhesus macaques experimentally infected with SIV isolates such as SIVmac251, fail to seroconvert, develop high plasma viremia and die rapidly (within 6-7 months p.i.). We hypothesized that such rapid progression is a result of a state of hyperimmune activation and concomitant immune suppression of these animals at the time of virus challenge. In efforts to test the hypothesis that immune activation leads to rapid progression of lentivirus-induced disease, adult rhesus macaques were infected with SIV mac251 and received an alternate monthly schedule of repeated immunization with allogeneic cells, keyhole limpet hemocyanin and tetanus toxoid (group I). For purposes of controls, a group of monkeys was infected with the same pool and dose of virus but were not immunized (group II) and a group was immunized with the same schedule of multiple antigens as group I but were not infected with SIV (group III). All the animals in group I (n = 3) either failed to seroconvert or developed very low levels of SIV antibodies, had high plasma p27 defined antigenemia, and died within 8 months (2/3 died within 4 months). Of the animals in group II (n = 8), two patterns emerged as we had noted before. One subgroup (3 animals), displayed the same profile as group I (failure to fully seroconvert, high p27 levels and death by 8 months), whereas the other subgroup (5 animals) seroconverted, had low plasma p27 levels, and survived past 11 months (2/5 still alive past 22 months). All 3 animals in group III remained healthy. The data provided herein suggest that either experimental or natural (due to factors not clear at present) immune stimulation may lead to accelerated lentivirus induced disease progression most likely due to immune suppression and has implications for the understanding of the mechanisms for the rate of disease progression in human HIV-1 infection.

Animals↗

Intimate justice: confronting issues of accountability, respect, and freedom in treatment for abuse and violence.

Intimate justice theory is a set of nine interrelated concepts that describe the ethical dimensions of equality, fairness, and care in ongoing partnerships. Understanding ethical dimensions involves examining internalized beliefs and behavior in terms of their motivation and impact on the partner, particularly as they empower, disempower, or abuse power. The concepts of intimate justice theory are applied to confront disempowerment and abuses of power, to challenge internalized beliefs about how one should treat one's partner, to explore how internalized beliefs were developed through experiences in the family of origin, and to develop an awareness of the linkages between intimate partner abuse and social injustice. This article demonstrates how therapists can utilize three of the concepts --accountability, respect, and freedom--to structure the opening phase of treatment for abuse and violence. The primary focus of the opening phase is on establishing accountability for change in the abusive man and protecting the safety of the injured partner. This involves challenging the abuser's sense of entitlement and working to rethink what respect is and restoring freedom to his partner. The discussion incorporates the findings of an exploratory, qualitative study that investigated the experiences of 30 abusive men and their partners who were clients in a university-based counseling clinic. The article elaborates six interventions that can be utilized in clinical settings to structure treatment with abusive men.

Female↗

Serum lactate as a predictor of mortality after paediatric cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of sequential lactate measurement in predicting postoperative mortality after surgery for complex congenital heart disease in children. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Sixteen bedded paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). SUBJECTS: Ninety nine children (90 survivors, nine non-survivors). MEASUREMENTS: Serum lactate and base deficit were measured on admission and every six hours thereafter. Data were analysed by Mann-Whitney and Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: There was considerable overlap in initial lactate values between the survivor and non-survivor groups. Initial lactate was significantly raised in non-survivors (median 8.7, range 1.9-17.6 mmol/l) compared with survivors (median 2.4, range 0.6-13.6 mmol/l) (p = 0.0002). Twenty one patients (21.1%) with initial lactate concentrations greater than 4.5 mmol/l survived to PICU discharge. Using receiver operating characteristic analysis an initial lactate of 6 mmol/l had the optimum predictive value for mortality. Initial postoperative serum lactate > 6 mmol/l predicted mortality with sensitivity 78%, specificity 83%, and positive predictive value of only 32%. CONCLUSION: Initial lactate concentrations have poor positive predictive value for mortality. The routine measurement of lactate for this purpose cannot be justified in clinical practice.

Biomarkers↗

Stealth virus epidemic in the Mohave Valley. I. Initial report of virus isolation.

Increasing numbers of patients within the Mohave Valley region of the United States are reporting symptoms attributable to atypical neurological illness. Many of these patients have experienced an acute-onset gastrointestinal illness during the spring and summer of 1996. Stealth viral cultures performed on the blood of 40 of these patients have been uniformly positive, yielding unequivocal transmissible cytopathic effect (CPE) in both human- and monkey-derived cell lines. One patient has died from a stealth-CPE-positive glioblastoma, while another patient has developed a plemorphic adenoma of the parotid. Viral cultures and epidemiological data support human-to-human, and probable human-to-dog, transmission of the Mohave stealth virus infection.

Animals↗

Computer-aided cognitive rehabilitation: possible application to the attentional deficit of schizophrenia, a report of negative results.

The cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia commonly include impairment in attention, which may contribute to difficulties with learning, memory, and executive function. This study evaluated the effectiveness of computer-aided training of attentional skills in schizophrenia. Two groups of schizophrenic subjects (9 men and 1 woman) were matched for age, estimated premorbid IQ, and positive and negative symptom scores. Both groups were assessed using a battery of attentional tests. Subjects then received either six 1-hr. computer-aided cognitive rehabilitation sessions (experimental condition) or six sessions of graphics-based computer games (control condition). Both groups were reassessed with attentional measures. There was significant improvement on only one test, a letter-cancellation task. This improvement was evident in both groups suggesting that this was a practise effect. Apart from the letter-cancellation test, subjects undertaking the computer-aided rehabilitation treatment did not show significant improvement on any attentional tasks.

Adult↗

Intracranial complications of temporal bone osteoradionecrosis.

OBJECTIVE: To present four cases of life-threatening intracranial complications associated with temporal bone osteoradionecrosis. STUDY DESIGN: This study was a retrospective case review of four patients combined with a literature review. SETTING: All patients were treated at Loyola University Medical Center, which is a tertiary care facility. PATIENTS: The four patients were retrospectively reviewed without demographic constraints. INTERVENTIONS: All patients underwent preoperative radiographic assessment (magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography scan), and three of the four patients underwent surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The role of surgical intervention in the management of advanced temporal bone osteoradionecrosis. RESULTS: Three patients underwent mastoid surgery after medical treatment of intracranial complications associated with temporal bone osteoradionecrosis. All three patients had dry, epithelialized mastoid cavities. One patient died as a result of meningitis. CONCLUSIONS: Mastoid surgery should be used in the overall management of patients with advanced temporal bone osteoradionecrosis to prevent secondary intracranial complications.

Adult↗

Modulating effects of flavonoids on food mutagens in human blood and sperm samples in the comet assay.

The flavonoids silymarin, myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol, rutin, and kaempferol-3-rutinoside have been examined in combination with the food mutagens 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido (4,3-b)indole (Trp) and 2-amino-3-methylimidazo-4,5-f)quinoline (IQ) in the Comet assay in human lymphocytes from donors A and B and human sperm from donor B. These compounds alone have been shown to produce positive responses in the Comet assay, as have the food mutagens. However, in combination with the food mutagens, the flavonoids produced antigenotoxic effects since DNA damage was reduced in the Comet assay in human lymphocytes and sperm over a similar dose range in the absence of metabolic activation. Only quercetin and kaempferol were examined in blood with metabolic activation, but there was no difference in response to that obtained without activation. In the blood there was an exacerbation or synergy of response at the lowest doses of the flavonoids. In the sperm this was also the case with silymarin and myricetin. With kaempferol there was no antigenotoxic effect and quercetin protected below baseline levels. Since the effects were observed in lymphocytes and sperm over a similar dose range, it would suggest that the Comet assay responses occur in somatic and germ cells in a one-to-one ratio. These results have implications for man in terms of risk assessment and in the modulation of isolated food constituents.

Adult↗